(Center Square) – Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, called on Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to resign after she said people who feel they are in danger are legally allowed to shoot undercover federal law enforcement officers.
Mayes made these comments in an interview with 12News, where she said, “We have a Stand Your Ground law that says if you reasonably believe your life is in danger and you’re in your home or your car or your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.”
Mayes told the news outlet that she was not advocating for the law enforcement shooting. However, she asked, “How do you know they’re a peace officer? That’s the key… If you’re being attacked by someone who’s not identified as a peace officer, how do you know?”
Kavanagh told The Center Square that Mayes’ comments about people being able to legally “shoot law enforcement officers if their faces are covered and they’re wearing non-traditional SWAT-type uniforms are false.”
He added that this comment by the attorney general was “irresponsible and incendiary.”
Her comments are “putting at risk the lives of federal and local law enforcement officers involved in such dangerous work,” the state senator explained.
“She needs to retract her statement and resign in disgrace,” Kavanagh said.
“Kris Mayes is the chief law enforcement officer of the state of Arizona. She just turned in drug cartel members [and] dangerous criminals license to kill cops,” he noted.
Kavanagh said that if cartel members or dangerous criminals kill police, they will use the attorney general’s comments as a “defense.”
“I don’t want to see Arizona’s top law enforcement officer as the star witness for the defense in a murder trial of a gang banger or a member of a drug cartel when they kill a cop,” Kavanagh told The Center Square.
According to Kavanagh, Democrats have become “so anti-immigration enforcement crazy that they will demonize immigration officials every chance they get.”
He described federal law enforcement officers as “sworn officers sworn to enforce immigration law which is the law of the land.”
America’s immigration laws are democratic laws “that need to be enforced,” Kavanagh explained.
“President Trump was elected because he said he would enforce [immigration laws]and the Democrats lost because they opened our border,” he told The Center Square.
In addition to Kavanagh, US Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Surprise, condemned Mayes’ statement.
“Kris Mayes’ comments justifying the killing of our ICE agents were reprehensible but entirely predictable. This is the natural consequence of the elevation of a far-left political activist to the highest position of Arizona law enforcement,” he noted.
Hamadeh said nothing in Arizona’s Stand Your Ground Law that gives citizens the right to use lethal force against law enforcement.
Arizona Police Association Executive Director Joe Clure, an organization that represents more than 12,000 police officers, said law enforcement “is an inherently dangerous job,” but Mayes’ recent comments “have the potential to make it even more dangerous.”
“ICE agents are sworn federal law enforcement officers who carry out the legal duties of the federal government. Public speculation about how someone could legally justify the shooting of an ICE agent sends a dangerous and irresponsible message, particularly in an already tense and polarized environment,” Clure said.
“Words from elected officials are important. It only takes one unstable individual to interpret a comment like this as permission or encouragement to use deadly force against police officers,” he added.
In a video on Sunday, Mayes said the “idea that [she] wanting the life of any member of law enforcement to be put in danger is wrong and offensive.”
“It’s a complete lie,” she added.
Mayes said residents of the state “don’t want undercover agents coming into their homes without warrants.” She called these actions “un-American” and threaten “the rights and security of everyone in our state.”
“ICE’s behavior is destroying public trust in law enforcement and putting every American, including local law enforcement, in danger. It will take years, if not decades, to undo the damage done over the past 12 months,” Mayes noted.
Center Square reached out to Mayes’ office for comment, but she did not respond by press time.
But Arizona Senate Democrats voiced their support for Mayes in a statement.
“Violence and chaos are not welcome in Arizona,” the Democrats said. “Attorney General Kris Mayes knows this, and she is fighting to protect Arizonans in a new political reality where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is increasingly comfortable violating the civil rights of American Citizens and those here legally. This is about public safety, and Attorney Mayes is right. Unfortunately, we are likely to experience tragedy in Arizona if ICE’s enforcement actions continue.”
“The Attorney General was describing our new legal reality — not encouraging anyone to harm law enforcement,” the Senate Democrats continued. “She was warning that unconstitutional and irresponsible procedures can create tragic events and that no one should have to wonder if the armed person who is breaking down their door is a criminal or a peace officer.”